


Natural Selection

by cledritch



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Discrimination, Established Relationship, Everyone is a little skeptic of johwin's relationship basically, Hybrid AU, Hybrids, I Tried, Implied Relationships, Johnny is Done with The Stereotypes, M/M, Overprotective Taeyong, Sicheng Does What He Wants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-11 02:09:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8949655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cledritch/pseuds/cledritch
Summary: The basement was the only place no one could question their relationship.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GRAEN](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GRAEN/gifts).



> for the one who made me fall into the proverbial rabbit hole that is johnwin and wrote the fic that would start it all, Nita. she's a sweetheart who deserves more than the world has to offer.

"Come here, Winwin."

Taeyong looked down from the top of the stairs, striped tail bristling as he scowled at how Sicheng was wrapped under blankets leaning onto Johnny's side. He took two steps down to repeat what he said to which Sicheng only blinked at him in confusion, hand coming out under the cloth around him to wave and Taeyong stomped one foot to emphasize what he wanted Sicheng to do.

"Winwin."

Johnny turned away from the television that was playing an old English movie about some rain in Spain mainly on the plain and one corner of his lips were turned down. He placed an arm around Sicheng's shoulder when the younger was about to move closer to the other. "Yong, we're trying to watch this."

Taeyong doesn't look happy at the physical contact and merely made a 'come here' gesture of his fingers at Sicheng.

"Hyung? Is something wrong?" the boy in question whispered as he freed himself from Johnny's grasp to walk up to Taeyong missing the pointed look that Johnny sent, slanted irises glowing in the dim light of the room.

Taeyong smiles at Sicheng, orange ears twitching as ruffled the boy's black hair that made the rounded ears on his head flatten against his hair. "Kun wants to see if you wanted to buy ice cream with him. Or crayfish, whichever you like."

Johnny wants to protest that trying to bribe Sicheng with food is low blow and both of them knew it but Sicheng's tapering tail sways in the prospect of food before he turned over his shoulder to ask for permission from Johnny. When he found that the elder's eyebrows were furrowed, he said "I'll watch it with you later? When it has Chinese subtitles?"

Taeyong is looking so smug that Johnny can feel his instinct to do a close-mouth strike at him. But he's a mature adult and flicks his forked tongue in annoyance without meaning to while Sicheng's ears drooped.

"I-"

Johnny beat him to whatever apology already forming in , looking at the horses on the screen "Just go. I'll be fine," he paused and grumbled under his breath "Like always."

Sicheng seems like he wants to say something again but Taeyong is softly groaning at him like he would to the younger members, calling him to move. It doesn't give the same effect because Sicheng is not a tiger hybrid but it calms him down enough that he lowers his head to pout.

At this point, there's a look of concern that flashes through Taeyong's face but he hardens his expression as he herds Sicheng up the stairs. He lags behind for a moment, turning to Johnny with his tail lashing side to side that the latter wished he knew what he was being aggressive for.

"Taeyong, I don't whatever scene you're playing in your head but who would want blood in the basement like a cheap b-thriller?" he quips and Taeyong's ears twisted, backs of it forward that those black spots on them look like they're staring back at him. 

The tail continues lashing and the other's eyes are wide. Johnny knew how protective he was but it gets more ridiculous whenever he finds Sicheng retreating to Johnny's safe haven (that is more of a quiet space more than anything) when the boy could always find comfort in the others who weren't dangerous.

Taeyong was dangerous too but having fangs and genes of a king cobra made Johnny a bigger threat.

"You know it's not about you, right?" he said with wide eyes, probably because Sicheng is still lingering by the door on the other side and his instinct is telling him to protect the boy. 

"It's also not good to provoke me." 

"I'm not. I'm just warning you." Taeyong huffed, walking up the stairs and closing the door with a small slam that vibrated through the room.

Johnny slumped into the blankets that Sicheng was wrapped in, taking in the scent of detergent mixing with the boy's natural scent and placed his arm over his eyes in annoyance.

The door is opened once more and Johnny can hear the shuffled steps that the person is trying to keep quiet but the slight press of their foot on wood as they moved was too obvious. They stood next to him before Johnny spoke up "What do you want, Hansol-hyung?"

The red fox chuckled, prying Johnny's arm away from his eyes. "Just making sure you're fine. Yuta was saying you lured Sicheng into the basement again to have a match to the death." 

Yuta, that dog. Johnny can almost see his shiba inu ears and swaying tail as he told Hansol that Sicheng was sulking because Taeyong thought he was being kind when he took him away from the darkness. He was always playful but did he really think that he could do that to the boy? Whimsy, playful Sicheng who's too cute for his own good that he hides the claws underneath little smiles and curious eyes. 

"So that's why Taeyong was so angry. I swear to god, all of you need to stop listening to Yuta when he probably wanted to start something." he grumbled as he stood up to shut the television off. He scratched at the scales on his nape, wondering when will he ever finish a movie with Sicheng at this rate.

Hansol shrugged, making a beeline to the mini fridge at the corner of the room to get a can of orange juice and placing it to his cheek. "He took him under his paw after he almost struck him the first time they met. It's like looking at a parent to their child. Taeyong is the scolding mother and Yuta is the father who wants you killed, Youngho. You're the bad boy they don't approve being around their pure son."

"Did you just imply that Taeyong and Yuta are together?" Johnny joked but Hansol pushed him, thankful the former wasn't too aggravated to strike.

Hansol snorted, the idea ridiculous and said "Easy there. It's more of the Aigoo family thing. That's my mate you're talking about."

"The fox and the hound~ What a cliche." Johnny cackled. He thought about the so-called team that named themselves Aigoo because of their varying nationalities' version of the exclamation (it was funny hearing "Aigooo, Aiya, Acha!" where Yuta fake-sneezed and he almost hurt his kidneys laughing at the absurdity of it with the Japanese boy's ears pointed up in excitement.)

The fox hybrid swiped his tail and his ears twitched. "We can't all be difficult like you and Sicheng."

Johnny digressed with a flick of his tongue. "Even if I bite him, he wouldn't be affected so what is the problem here? Jealousy, perhaps?"

"Ten will kick you in the face with everything that comes out of your mouth. I don't know how you have fans."

"Can't tell, really. From the talent to the mystery of the trainee being kept for eight years, it could also be my good looks so I might have a biased answer." Johnny joked as Hansol turned to him with a blank face.

"I wonder what kind of damage control they need to make with you and your sharp tongue. At least Yuta doesn't sound like that on broadcast most of the time.

Johnny scoffed, "Can't relate when they refuse to debut me because I'm an exotic hybrid who is supposed to be solitary and highly dangerous so they respect that with hiding me in this basement. I can't relate, hyung."

"You talk like you're the only one they didn't debut."

"You're eating out with Kun and the other trainees while I stay as isolated as possible for the good of everyone."

Hansol didn't answer as the King Cobra hybrid gathered the blankets around his body and sulked even if he was trying to hide it.

 

Sicheng came back to the basement the next day, a scratch on his cheek that was covered with a band aid and his knuckles bruised.

Johnny was almost trying to loom over him with how he felt angry. "What the hell happened to you?" he yelled and looked over the ugly mottling purple that looked like it had been swelling overnight. 

The younger looked to the floor, wincing when the elder pressed his fingers down the bruises to check. "Hyung was...he got angry at me for no reason and I told him I could take care of myself," he sighed, memories that made the pain worse "So he pushed me and I pushed back. You know the rest."

Taeyong knew better than to let his anger bleed into aggression. As much as he and Sicheng somewhat shared the same feline features, Taeyong's genes were of Felidae variety, true cats that made him different to the Feliformia's cat-like attributes running through Sicheng's animal DNA. He knew that and he was also the type to get carried away when he was upset that he doesn't realize the strength he's pushing. Even if the staff reminded him to cut his sharpened nails, they always grew back the night after that sometimes in free schedules he doesn't bother anymore and Sicheng was unfortunate enough that he was scratched.

"And the knuckles? Did you punch him, is that it?"

Sicheng shook his head, yelling "No! I wouldn't do that to Taeyong-hyung!" Despite whatever bad attitude Taeyong slipped out of his control, Sicheng still held a very high respect for him after all he has gone through and no matter what he was always going to be the hyung that welcomed him with soft smiles and wide arms. 

"So why are they looking like you punched a brick wall?" Johnny said, annoyed and trying to calm himself because this wasn't intentional and just a lapse of anger. He can't necessarily blame it on pure instinct if he thought about it. Taeyong was already annoyed in the first place, his concern being tossed away because Sicheng couldn't see what he was trying to protect him from and yes, the boy is nineteen away from his family trying to survive in an unfamiliar environment but he's not a toddler that needs hands holding him up. It might be an exaggeration on Johnny's part because he's seen more of Taeyong whipped on the episodes of NCT Life and he would have chalked it as scripted the first time he saw it if not for Taeyong touching Sicheng a lot that it seemed like he was rubbing his scent on him and the abundance of showing his teeth in grins directed to the boy.

Johnny knew Taeyong and Sicheng were close but they were still boys who'll fight over the littlest things and hit each other. It's a normal thing but-

Sicheng's soft response snaps him out of his thought, ears flat on his head like a rejected cat asking for forgiveness "Because I did."

"What."

"It was either that or a cat fight and hyung would make me promise ridiculous things so he wouldn't carry me by my neck." 

Taeyong needed to stop treating Sicheng like he gave birth to him sometimes because from what Hansol explained, if the cats were to pick their kittens by their scruff it would somewhat still them but to hybrids, it felt claustrophobic if it was done out of the blue and uncomfortable even if they were close. It's a familial bond that would have been acceptable in other situations but in a fight, it was a low blow.

"So you let him cut your face? The make-up noonas warned you not to do anything that could injure your face because there's no foundation that can hide a fresh wound without infecting it," he made a displeased face "And he could have bitten your throat out given the chance. What were you thinking?"

The boy's tail is tucked between his legs and he looks so sad it hurt Johnny looking at him. "I just wanted to finish My Fair Lady with you but he kept going on with how there's a reason SM keeps you in basement most of the time.and I thought friends weren't supposed to back stab each other."

The elder ruffled his hair, still buried in the blankets that no longer smelled like Sicheng and more of the damp smell that seeped into it from its surroundings. He was cold, the air-conditioning set lower than normal that he might have forgot to change it when Sicheng left. Now he's shivering and too upset to say anything that would sound like a retort because SM can go and eat its heart out. He's used to the stigma of his kind even if the snake hybrids that usually do murder are the common types but because King Cobras are bigger and more known, they paste that belief onto them while the common snake hybrids live without prejudice.

"Just...come here."

Sicheng immediately moved to his side, letting himself be pulled onto Johnny's space and tucking him into his chest as the elder relished the radiating warmth from his body. Sicheng made himself comfortable enough that he was leaning back with Johnny hooking his chin on his shoulder close to his neck.There's a prickling feeling in Johnny's insides that made his shackles raised, something that Sicheng mirrored with his hair standing up on its ends but his ears only twitch a little and his tail sways once before it settles near Johnny's thigh.

It's a defenseless position perfect for immediate attack but Sicheng never felt more at ease as he picked up the remote and the television to resume the movie.

There was no need for a fight when they can just enjoy each other's company without anyone questioning how a mongoose and king cobra could ever be anything but mortal enemies. The stares they received when Sicheng would try holding Johnny's hand in public as they waited for the strike but only feeling discomfort as Johnny flicked his tongue in amusement. The rest of the members would ask them if there was ever a time they felt hatred towards each other and Johnny would just say that their animal genes may have bad blood but just because it was a stereotype didn't mean everyone had to be that way.

"We make our own choices but people don't respect that," Johnny hummed, words mouthed against Sicheng's skin that made him shiver and he pressed the very tips of his fangs enough that the younger could feel them "I could try to poison you despite knowing it wouldn't affect you and I could constrict you if I wanted to when you're right in my grasp." he squeezed for good measure that Sicheng felt his breath being knocked out of his lungs.

But Johnny loosened it, let close and kissed the pulse on Sicheng's neck that made him giggle at the coldness of Johnny's lips. "But I won't and you won't attack anyone unless it was life and death. It's different because we can choose whatever the hell we want. What a waste of evolution it would be if we all succumbed to primal instincts, right? We choose if we stick to what we are born with or adapting to fit more to what we believe in.

"I guess it is. Now, please let me watch the movie."

**Author's Note:**

> this was the fic that the first few times i tried writing it, it was either i didn't save and it got lost or my laptop shut down and it got lost because i didn't save.  
> i honestly don't know how i come up with these lol tell me what you think


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